Governors kick off 2019 with bold calls for climate action in these 5 states – ThinkProgress

Governors throughout the nation are making it clear that 2019 would be the yr they may battle more durable towards climate change by advocating for bolder insurance policies that may increase renewable power assets and reduce greenhouse fuel emissions in their states.

The governors — each newly elected and reelected — can clearly see that the federal authorities will proceed to tug its ft on climate action for so long as President Donald Trump is in workplace and the Republicans management at the least one chamber of Congress.

Elections for governor have been held in 36 states final November. Republicans gained 20 governor seats and Democrats captured 16.

And lots of state leaders are heeding the warnings of climate scientists who in 2018 issued their strongest warnings up to now concerning the significance of climate action. Delaying the implementation of greenhouse gas-reduction insurance policies is not an choice, the scientists emphasised, if america and different nations around the globe are critical about taking steps to keep away from catastrophic climate change.

Over the previous two weeks, governors in 5 states have stood out in their robust commitments to climate action.

Of their New Yr’s Day inaugural addresses, Andrew Cuomo (D), who’s starting his third time period as New York’s governor, and New Mexico’s new governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham (D), addressed climate change head-on by advocating new insurance policies to chop greenhouse fuel emissions and spur clear power.

On January 2, Maine’s new governor, Janet Mills (D), took the oath of workplace. Her administration, which she vows will make climate change a prime precedence, is more likely to supply the best distinction with its predecessor — former Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) — among the many newly elected governors.

In Colorado, Gov. Jared Polis (D) has pledged to maneuver the state to 100 % renewable power in the electrical energy sector by 2040. In the meantime, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D), who gained reelection to a second time period, has vowed to make 2019 the yr that Pennsylvania makes curbing greenhouse fuel emissions a prime precedence.

New York

In his inaugural tackle on New Yr’s Day, Gov. Andrew Cuomo introduced that inside the first 100 days of his new time period in workplace, he’ll suggest “the most progressive agenda this state has ever seen, period,” together with the promotion of a New York-style Inexperienced New Deal.

Cuomo’s Inexperienced New Deal differs from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) proposal in its scope and timeline. Cuomo’s proposal would make the state’s electrical energy 100-percent carbon impartial by 2040. The Inexperienced New Deal promoted by Ocasio-Cortez and others would goal to make your complete U.S. financial system — not simply the electrical energy sector — carbon-free by 2030.

“From voting reforms, to Roe v. Wade for New York, to protecting a woman’s right to choose. To better gun laws, to healthcare protection, to legalizing marijuana, to protecting the labor movement, to a Green New Deal, to real criminal justice reform — we will make history and New York will move forward,” Cuomo stated in his inaugural handle.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo takes the oath of workplace on January 1, 2019 on Ellis Island in New York Metropolis. CREDIT: Andrew Lichtenstein/ Corbis by way of Getty Pictures

All of these proposals are a part of what Cuomo is looking his “2019 Justice Agenda.” On January 15, the Cuomo administration offered extra particulars concerning the Justice Agenda.

The agenda calls for a “globally unprecedented” ramp-up in renewable power deployments as New York seeks to realize 100 % carbon-free electrical energy by 2040, and finally to get rid of its complete carbon footprint.

“Amidst the Trump administration’s assault on the environment and in order to continue New York’s progress in the fight against climate change,” the agenda states. “Governor Cuomo is announcing New York’s Green New Deal, a nation-leading clean energy and jobs agenda that will put the state on a path to carbon neutrality across all sectors of New York’s economy.”

For years, environmental teams have pushed the Cuomo administration to embrace clear power and take action towards fossil gasoline extraction. In 2014, for occasion, after years of grass-roots lobbying, Cuomo banned fracking in the state.

“There is no doubt that the grassroots climate movement has successfully pushed Gov. Cuomo to stake out more aggressive policies to confront the climate crisis,” Alex Beauchamp, Northeast area director of environmental group Meals & Water Watch, stated in a press release responding to Cuomo’s proposed Inexperienced New Deal.

New Mexico

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, in her January 1 inaugural handle, insisted she and fellow state leaders “have to be aggressive and act to address a global warming crisis that will have an effect on this world and this state within our lifetime.”

Previous to her election as governor, Lujan Grisham served in Congress, the place her 2017 voting document on environmental points garnered her a 100 % score from the League of Conservation Voters.

In her profitable bid for the governor’s seat, Lujan Grisham vowed to extend clear power jobs in wind and photo voltaic by investing in transmission strains. She additionally needs to spice up New Mexico’s renewable portfolio commonplace so that a a lot bigger proportion of energy era comes from clear power sources.

“A dramatic increase in our clean energy production insulates us from future oil busts and makes good on our promise to leave our great outdoors greater than we found them,” she stated in her inaugural tackle. “That means we will produce 50 percent of our energy from renewable sources by 2030 and set the course for 80 percent 10 years after that. We can achieve this, and I will not relent until it is done.”

The objectives are an formidable transfer for New Mexico, the place coal and pure fuel nonetheless gasoline a big majority of the state’s energy crops. At present, the state’s renewable portfolio commonplace units a goal of 20 % of renewable electrical energy era by 2020 for the state’s investor-owned utilities.

Lujan Grisham’s first finances, launched on January 10, consists of extra employees to manage the state’s oil and fuel corporations. She additionally has proposed statewide guidelines to chop methane emissions from the drilling business.

Maine

Gov. Janet Mills, the primary feminine governor of Maine, succeeded former Gov. Paul LePage (R), probably the most anti-environment governors in the nation. Throughout her marketing campaign, and since getting sworn in as governor, Mills has made increasing wind and photo voltaic power assets in Maine considered one of her prime agenda gadgets.

In her inaugural handle on January 2, Mills provided guarantees to guard lobsters and forests endangered by climate change in her state; the Gulf of Maine is warming quicker than another saltwater physique in the world.

“Climate change is threatening our jobs, damaging our health and attacking our historic relationship to the land and sea,” Mills stated in her speech. “Tonight I say, enough. Enough with studies, talk, and debate. It is time to act.”

Janet Mills in sworn in because the 75th governor of Maine throughout her inauguration ceremony in Augusta, Maine on January 2, 2019. CREDIT: Brianna Soukup/Portland Press Herald by way of Getty Pictures

Mills, who beforehand served two phrases as Maine lawyer basic, additionally promised to embrace clear power, tackle transportation emissions, and “reach a goal of 50 percent of electricity coming from Maine renewable resources” like wind and photo voltaic power. To exhibit her dedication to wash power, the brand new governor introduced she is going to set up photo voltaic panels on the roof of the governor’s house.

The brand new path for essential comes as a dramatic shift from LePage, who had one of many worst environmental data in the nation. His two phrases in workplace marked eight years of inaction on climate change.

In early 2018, for instance, LePage issued an government order that positioned a moratorium on new wind turbine improvement. He has additionally vetoed a number of bipartisan payments to advertise photo voltaic power and was additionally the one Atlantic Coast governor to help President Trump’s proposal to open up the offshore space to grease and fuel exploration.

Beneath Mills, the way forward for each land-based and offshore wind power, in addition to photo voltaic assets, might change.

The state presently has a two-tiered renewable portfolio commonplace. Its class II requirement is that 30 % of electrical energy consumed in the state should come from renewable power assets. That focus on was put in many years in the past and was simply met on the time by the state’s hydroelectric assets.

Maine additionally has a category I requirement that requires 10 % of energy bought in the state come from new renewable power assets. That focus on was reached in 2017 and is at present being met virtually solely by present biomass crops underneath a controversial loophole that allowed these biomass crops to be outlined as new as a result of that they had undergone refurbishments.

Mills needs to extend that 10-percent normal to 50 % by 2030. That might imply 50 % of all electrical energy consumed in Maine would wish to return from new renewable power assets. If her proposal will get carried out, a complete of 80 % of energy bought by electrical utilities and unbiased electrical energy suppliers in Maine can be coming from renewable power assets, together with wind, photo voltaic, biomass, and hydro, by 2030.

“Eighty percent by 2030 is a very positive step toward a renewable-based economy and electricity sector,” Dylan Voorhees, climate and clear power director for nonprofit environmental group Pure Assets Council of Maine, informed ThinkProgress. “That would be very good news if it can be put into place.”

Regardless of LePage’s animosity towards wind power, Maine stays New England’s prime wind producer. However a lot of the energy produced in Maine is bought outdoors the state since corporations can cost extra for wind elsewhere throughout New England.

Beneath Mills’ administration, although, insurance policies might change that might permit land-based wind builders to enter into long-term contracts with Maine utilities at costs that may be corresponding to what they’re getting for their energy from out-of-state consumers.

“We found consistently that Gov. LePage was really out of step with overwhelming bipartisan majorities of the public in Maine as well as bipartisan majorities of the state legislature,” Voorhees stated. “It’s likely that Gov. Mills is better reflecting the general sentiment of Maine people, which is climate change is real and it’s an issue that we’re concerned about it. And that Maine is a renewable energy-rich state where we see economic opportunities.”

Usually talking, Mills’s victory on the polls in November represented “a pent-up political correction that reflects the fact that LePage was just disconnected from the direction for the state that Maine people want,” he defined.

Colorado

Gov. Jared Polis, who was sworn into workplace on January eight, has promised the state will run solely on renewable energy by 2040. That might part out fossil gasoline era in Colorado even quicker than in California and Hawaii, which each just lately launched a 2045 aim.

Beneath his management, Polis in his inaugural handle stated that the state will “get to work protecting our precious air, water, and land — and making sure that every Colorado family can live a great Colorado life with clean air and cheap, abundant renewable energy.”

The state’s largest electrical utility, Xcel Power, is already shifting towards renewable power. The corporate introduced in December that it’ll search to scale back carbon emissions by 80 % of 2005 ranges by 2030 and that its energy era would grow to be utterly carbon-free by 2050.

On January 10, two days after his inauguration, Polis gave a State of the State speech in the Colorado Home chambers. He emphasised there’s no doubting the consequences of climate change.

“Climate change is a scientific reality. It’s real. There’s no pretending otherwise for farmers and ranchers who are facing historic water shortages,” stated Polis, who served in the U.S. Home of Representatives previous to profitable Colorado’s governor’s seat in November. “There’s no pretending otherwise for the 46,000 men and women who work in Colorado’s ski industry and see their jobs threatened by decreased snowpack.”

Efforts to chop greenhouse fuel emissions in Colorado gained’t be straightforward. The fossil gasoline business holds nice energy in the state. In the course of the 2018 midterm elections, oil and fuel corporations and their supporters spent about $40 million on a marketing campaign to efficiently defeat Proposition 112, a poll initiative that may have created a bigger buffer zone between drilling websites and houses and faculties.

And on Monday, the Colorado Supreme Courtroom dominated that state regulators can’t make public well being and the setting their prime precedence when making allowing selections. Polis, who has expressed help for giving localities larger management over oil and fuel drilling, stated he was disillusioned with the courtroom’s ruling.

As a part of his clear power agenda, Polis on Thursday issued an government order to spur the sale of electrical automobiles. The chief order directs the Colorado Division of Public Well being and Setting to determine a zero emission car program. The order additionally directs state officers to make use of funds offered by Volkswagen from its emissions scandal to construct vehicle-charging infrastructure and broaden use of zero-greenhouse gas-emitting buses and vans.

“The action by Polis is among the most important actions to date by a Mountain West leader to cut carbon pollution from transportation, the biggest source of those emissions nationally,” the NRDC stated Thursday in a weblog publish. “While much remains to be done in the coming months, this direction from the top in the governor’s first days underscores the importance of this issue.”

Pennsylvania

Even earlier than he was sworn into workplace for a second time period as governor, Gov. Tom Wolf started the yr with a serious climate action announcement.

On January eight, Wolf signed an government order calling on Pennsylvania to scale back greenhouse fuel emissions by 26 % by 2025 in comparison with 2005 ranges. By 2050, the Democratic governor stated he needs to see an 80-percent discount in emissions.

“In the absence of leadership from the federal government, states and cities are stepping up and doing their part to reduce emissions,” Wolf stated in a press release. “Today I am proud to declare the commonwealth’s intention to address climate change, the most critical environmental threat facing the world.”

Pennsylvania’s draft Climate Action Plan, launched in November by the state Division of Environmental Safety, states that if each state and nation met comparable objectives, international temperature rise might be stored under the three.6 levels Fahrenheit (2 levels Celsius) threshold that specialists say is important to mitigate the catastrophic penalties of climate change.

Wolf’s government order additionally establishes a brand new GreenGov Council to spice up inexperienced and sustainable practices in state authorities. The GreenGov Council will function a coordinating physique to supervise the implementation of the provisions in the chief order.

The chief order calls for the state authorities to scale back general power consumption by three % per yr, and 21 % by 2025, as in comparison with 2017 ranges, substitute 25 % of the state passenger automotive fleet with battery electrical and plug-in electrical hybrid automobiles by 2025, and buy renewable power to offset a minimum of 40 % of the state authorities’s annual electrical energy use.

Throughout his first time period as governor, Wolf was a robust supporter of the state’s pure fuel business. Actually, Wolf made his climate announcement at a joint press convention with officers from Peoples Pure Fuel, an area Pittsburgh fuel utility.

On the press convention, Peoples Pure Fuel introduced a objective of decreasing methane emissions from its underground pipeline system by 50 % in 2019.

The NRDC welcomed the greenhouse gas-reduction objectives included in Wolf’s government order.

“His bold agenda is the first in state history to slash greenhouse gas emissions and align with the Paris Agreement, capture new clean energy growth in electric vehicles and put Pennsylvanians to work while leading the way forward for a clean energy future,” Jackson Morris, NRDC’s director for the japanese area of their climate and power program, stated in a press release.

Every week later, on January 15, Wolf was sworn into workplace for a second time period. In his inaugural tackle, although, Wolf solely briefly talked about the surroundings — in conjunction with jobs creation. There was no reference to his climate initiative.

Pennsylvania must be a spot “where the business community recognizes the value of an energy policy that protects our environment and creates good jobs,” Wolf stated in the speech.